


Playlist For A Desperado

by snakenshake



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Grim Folk, Inspired by Music, Mentor/Protégé, Playlist, Southern Gothic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-08
Updated: 2018-05-08
Packaged: 2019-05-04 03:10:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14583663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snakenshake/pseuds/snakenshake
Summary: No one knows where he came from, and no one asks. The kid seems to be born of the desert itself:  callous and savage as any of its creatures. The fire that burns in him is only restrained by the size of his clip. A set of microfiction about Jesse McCree, inspired by dark folk music.





	Playlist For A Desperado

**Author's Note:**

> These microfics tell the story of Jesse McCree, starting at the beginning and bringing him to the present day. Each is inspired by a song, mostly folk music, that connected me to a moment in time for the cowboy. The playlist is located here, the songs in order from top to bottom: https://open.spotify.com/user/cedarblackbird/playlist/55YUGsQawc66FxCcjHrbvM  
> The post can be found on tumblr here: https://overwhich.tumblr.com/post/173688689359/desperado-a-playlist-by-cedarblackbird-on-spotify

        No one knows where he came from, and no one asks. The kid seems to be born of the desert itself:  callous and savage as any of its creatures. The fire that burns in him is only restrained by the size of his clip.

* * *

        The Deadlock Gang’s reign is crumbling. Got too big, too greedy, too sloppy. Domestic authorities weren’t anything they never dealt with before, but the involvement of the international organization Overwatch caught them with their pants down. Jesse figures it’s a little early in life for a last stand, but he’s got the gun and the gumption to go out with a bang.

* * *

        Cold reality clinks around his wrists.  It’s not much of a last stand if you survive. In the dim concrete room he sits across from the lawman. There’s two options being laid before him: he’ll pick the one that gets him his gun back.

* * *

        If Jesse was a creature of the desert, then Gabriel Reyes was the desert itself. This man was a force of nature, and Jesse came to respect him like he respected the blazing Southwest sun. You did elsewise at your peril.

* * *

        To most, the desert seems inhospitable. But there for those who can take the heat are cool shade and sweet water. Reyes’ crew knew how to handle the heat. Then there were the fat cats and the pencil pushers who couldn’t take a warm piss. While they clicked their tongues and hemmed and hawed with their tangles of red tape, everything escalated for the time they wasted. It made his trigger finger itch.

* * *

        Work for somebody 20 years, you might fool yourself into thinking you know them. Used to be there was only a single man Jesse McCree respected– looking back on it, that number might be off by one. Something changed, just when he thought he knew everything there was to know about the desert. Something’s been coming down the barrel a long time, not that he could ever tell for certain what it was. Doesn’t matter now. What is for certain is that Overwatch is gone, and it took Reyes with it. 

* * *

       Sometimes he thinks about them. Sometimes, when it’s quiet. So he tries to keep his distance from  _quiet_. Maybe it’s lucky for him that  _quiet_  can be hard to find for long. He’s sure as hell not welcome anywhere, anymore. In the quiet times, he remembers when he was.

* * *

       Well, now. Seems someone wants to get the posse back together. Just like old times, huh? Nice one. Jesse disregards the recall signal.   
That sun set a long time ago.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. Concrit is appreciated!


End file.
